Day 280: Free Dinner and a Show

Hey internet people!

It's been a good week! Yesterday at work someone informed me that I had won a prize drawing for some committee. I am not on any committees at work, and couldn't remember signing up for anything. Come to find out, they drew everybody's name at work, and I was number 7 out of 10 to get my name drawn for a prize. Some of the prizes included tickets to Chanhassan Dinner Theater, Twins tickets, Lynx tickets, Jesus Christ Superstar, and movie tickets. My name was so far down the list I pretty much knew most of the stuff would be gone by the time I got there, which it was, but I didn't care, any of these options was fine with me. I ended up opting for the movie tickets, which were for Regal Cinema, only two in the metro area, but not a bad deal. Two tickets and $10 in concession stand money.


Later that night was Bucks night at Chammps, which is their version of Bingo. I was debating on not going, but was feeling really lucky after winning those tickets, so I headed over and reserved a table for me and my friends. A little information on Bucks: the last game of the night is the jackpot, and it grows $50 every week that nobody wins it. This week it was up to $1,550. You have to win in eleven numbers. After he called the tenth number I had one more to go...and he didn't call it. Until three numbers later. And another person won as well. We both went up there, because he can only have one winner, so he had us both draw bingo balls to see who got the higher number. I grabbed the first one I touched, and clenched my fist around it. I didn't want to look at it until I saw what color hers was. (We have the same set at work, so I know the order from low to high is blue, red, white, green, yellow.) Hers was white, which meant an N number. I opened up my fist....and my ball was yellow! I had won the final prize, which was a $25 gift card. Not bad, especially considering I didn't have to pay to play. The manager also came up to me and gave me a free app/drink coupon for being one away earlier. My luck may be running out soon, but it feels good to win something.

Day 277: Money Saving and Weight Loss Tips

Two of my friends got married at the beginning of this month, and ever since then I've been trying to lose the weight I put on for it and save the money that I spent on it. I didn't realize how expensive it was to be in a wedding, actually owe people money now, so I've been trying all sorts of things to save money. The dress that I spent two hundred dollars on also did not fit after I lost some weight. So I also have been going hardcore with re-losing the weight. I figured out some "life hacks" if you will. A lot of sites post these, so I thought I would post a couple of mine.

These are some to lose weight:

• Allow yourself one cheat meal a week, that way you have something to look forward to
• Avoid the chip/soda aisle. There is always something new/on clearance/sale that you will want
• Weigh yourself once a day, at the same time every day. It sucks, but will help motivate you
• When you are stressed/angry/bored go for a walk. Even if the weather sucks walk around the mall or a local grocery store. I like Wal-Mart because it's 24 hours and has non-food sections.
• When you are watching tv/movie have a puzzle going, it will keep your hands busy and prevent you from making a snack.
• Plan your week with little exercise routines built in. I belong to a gym so I look ahead of time to see what classes are offered. 
• Have your friends join you for a walk around a lake/park/neighborhood

These are some to help save money:

• Cancel anything you don't use/need. I still need to cancel my People.com subscription, I never read them
•  When I go out anywhere I will leave my credit cards at home and only take cash, that way I can only spend that certain dollar amount
• Leave cash/credit cards at home. If I'm going to a friend's house/the gym I will leave my credit cards and cash at home, that way it is not even an option to hit up taco bell after doing Zumba
• Along with allowing one cheat meal, allow yourself to only go out a certain number of times a week. Plan your meals according to your grocery shopping. 
• Set an "allowance" for yourself and only go to the atm when it's time for your "allowance"
• Coupon. Just about everything out there has a coupon. I even do the surveys on the back of my receipts for free food/drawings
• When your friends go out, eat beforehand (unless it's buffet) then just get a soda or light dessert. Sure, it's fun to eat out, but my friends go out every time we hang out

I know there are a lot of ways to save money and lose weight, and it's hard. I am still working on getting rid of the junk food in my place and replacing it with better things. I have been shopping the "natural" or "organic" sections of grocery stores. It's a little more expensive, but then I save that money on not eating out all the time. My friends love to go eat out, and usually everybody wants to order a drink. When all is said and done the bill is well over twenty. I also don't go to eat at buffets anymore, it's just too much money and I eat too much.

All this being said, I love my body, but I know that I need to lose a little weight so that I can be a little more comfortable. I know we all say that we're going to lose the weight, but this time I mean it. Time to stop talking and start doing. My "gym money" jar is filling up, so will post on that next week, it's going to be a low month, but I haven't given up.

Day 254: Emptying the Jar Again

I counted the dollars in the jar for April, but it doesn't seem right...only 10! I have been sick a lot this month, but that is pretty bad. At this rate it is costing me about six dollars every time I go to the gym. I think this is the lowest month so far, but I'm hopeful for the up and coming months. I am in a wedding tomorrow as a bridesmaid, and of course we ordered our dresses way ahead of time to make sure we got them in time. After trying mine on a couple weeks ago I realized that it no longer fit very well. I have actually lost about ten pounds, but it looks like more because I've been gaining a lot of muscle. As a result I didn't work out as much, in hopes that the dress would start to fit better because I couldn't afford to get it altered again. I hate myself for doing it, but I gained five pounds back to get the dress to fit better. It worked, though, and I'll just have to step it up after the wedding again.

One of the biggest factors of weight gain, that a lot of people ignore, is stress. I realized that being around certain people was stressing me out. Growing up means making grown up choices, even when you don't want to. I had to cut back on time spent with people that made me feel like a loser, because it was giving me a bad attitude towards my life in general. I would eat cookies at one in the morning because, well, I deserve it. Nobody else feels the way I do. Right? No. That's how a teenager reacts, but when an adult acts that way they gain weight. They feel bad about themselves, they eat to feel better, lose sleep from the sugar added late at night, feel tired the next day, lose self-respect for themselves and eat junk food. I could do this when I was a teenager and not gain a pound, but can't do it any more. So here is my list of things to do when I'm feeling stressed/depressed to avoid junk food:

• Drink water with Mio or other flavorings
• Do a puzzle, challenges your mind and makes you feel good when you complete it
• Go for a walk
• Sing, either on Rock Band or while playing guitar/piano
• Call a friend
• Online window shopping
• Keep a healthy snack bin in your fridge stocked with string cheese, carrots, apples, etc
• Don't buy chips!

I'm still working on that last one. They recently came out with rice krispie oreos, too, and I'm addicted. I've also tried to switch to baked chips as much as possible. Eventually I will get back to juicing too...